So, I am having trouble reconciling which is better - all else being equal. If I am buying a new car, and have the choice of selling investments with capital gains or taking out a loan how to do determine which is better? Am I thinking about this correctly: For example, to make things simple, say I ...

I have searched the forum but was not able to find any recent threads: Our 11 year old car with 106k miles on it is starting to cost more and more. I am not one to get rid of cars easily, I kept my last car for 12+ yrs/153k miles, but now that we have a young child I am interested in the safety impr...

I have searched and cannot find a clear answer. For Dependent Care FSAs, is it when we pay or when the services are received? For example, my FSA plan year starts in July but day care requires the first payment for September 2014-May 2015 in March 2014. That is, we pay in March but don't receive any...

I don't the answer to your actual question, I never used them but people I know well have... I use Frontpoint and have had no problems with them in over a year (hoping this doesn't jinx me). I paid a little more upfront to get a one year contract instead of a two year contract and now pay month to m...

Right, I left out the assumption you qualify based on income limits. And, let's just assume that you have maxed out your retirement space or have such terrible 401k options that you would prefer to contribute to other low cost tax deferred options. And, maybe, you want to help your children pay for ...

I see a lot of discussion on which retirement accounts to fund first, but cannot find any discussion on which college/education saving account to fund first. Assuming that you get NO state deduction for contributions to a 529 plan and you have already MAXED out your retirement accounts, does anyone ...

within my company's retirement plan there are four bond choices: FID HIGH INCOME 0.76% FIDELITY GOVT INCOME 0.45% PIMCO TOT RETURN ADM 0.71% STRATEGIC ADVISORS CORE INCOME 0.86% If I wanted to approach my company about adding fund choices and propose a bond index fund, what should some of my argumen...

I have had Frontpoint for about two months now, and while not much cheaper than the alternatives, they do provide more services, no longterm contracts, and are easy to deal with. As for any of the other national companies, I would avoid them.

Thanks for all the replies. I have received quotes from some local banks and a national bank. Of course, all quote their fees differently so it is hard to compare and like someone said all have 'junk' fees. I questioned each lender on their fees that I thought were unreasonable and all the lenders o...

In preparation for puchasing my first home, I have been reading up on mortgages and would appreciate some insight from the forum regarding "junk" fees. I have searched the forum and the web and have found some good stuff but as these things are always changing, any recent insight would be ...

Thanks for the replies. To clarify, for example, say I am working with Agent A and Agent A lists a property I want to purchase instead of doing dual agency, Agent A "designates" one of her colleagues from the same office. That is, two agents from the same Coldwell Banker office or two agen...

Does anyone have any thoughts, comments, concerns, or experience with "designated agency" when purchasing real estate? Specifically, from the buyer's perspective? (I searched this forum and the web and can find very little about it from someone without a clear agenda. From what I have read...

Thanks for the responses. A couple replies: - I believe the $10.99/mo Asurion insurance even covers water damage...it says so directly: "...even water damage." Of course, there could be some fine print I am miss-reeading that excludes certain water damage... - We have never lost a cell pho...

To get right to the point: do you purchase insurance for your smartphone? Some background: I have been a long time reader of this forum but this is my first post. Mostly, I just haven't felt like I could add much or ask something that has not already been asked. Well, that changed recently... My wif...